A lawsuit alleges a day care abused children at a day care in Texas (The Button Law Firm).
A Texas day care worker is accused of physically and verbally abusing three toddlers at a YMCA child care center housed in an elementary school.
A lawsuit was filed on Jan. 23, claiming that the YMCA did not follow mandatory reporting laws by not informing the state or parents about incidents and retaining a caregiver accused of abuse. The caregiver in question has been arrested, charged, and subsequently fired from her position.
Russell Button, a lawyer specializing in child injury cases from The Button Law Firm, is representing three families in a lawsuit against the Central Texas YMCA. He condemns the mistreatment of innocent toddlers and insists that the ongoing trauma could have been prevented if the day care had been run properly and legally. Button is determined to hold the YMCA accountable for allowing such misconduct and ensure that similar incidents do not recur.
The lawsuit names the YMCA of Central Texas, which operates the child care program at Northwest Elementary School.
As reported by local ABC affiliate KVUE, the YMCA mentioned that upon discovering evidence of physical aggression towards several students, they terminated the implicated employee, Browning, and promptly informed parents, Child Protective Services (CPS), and law enforcement authorities.
“The well-being of our students is our utmost priority,” the YMCA said. “We follow the state’s guidelines on safety and run extensive background checks before hiring employees. The YMCA of Central Texas is committed to ensuring the safest possible environment for our families.”
The allegations surfaced in late February 2024, when a “Pandora’s box was opened” during a simple hunt for a child’s missing shoe that revealed “regular and ongoing use of prohibited punishments against multiple children,” the lawsuit said.
The YMCA senior program director contacted the Pflugerville Independent School District (ISD) to help watch video footage to locate a missing shoe. While on the phone, the human resources director of Pflugerville ISD saw a YMCA employee subjecting kids on video footage to “inappropriate and unsafe discipline methods,” the lawsuit said.
Video footage from Feb. 21, 2024, shows several children playing in a small makeshift enclosure as the employee is seen sitting on a chair and looking at her cellphone, “completely inattentive to the children in her care,” the complaint said.
The YMCA employee is then seen walking over to a child, aggressively grabbing her right upper arm and forcefully walking her to the middle of the enclosure, where she makes the child sit on the floor, according to the documents.
After placing the child on the floor, the YMCA employee is seen looking back at her cellphone as the child appears extremely upset.
Frustrated by the child’s crying, the footage then shows the YMCA employee grabbing the child by the throat and choking and shaking the child as she berates her for crying, the court documents alleged.
Terrified, the girl is seen grabbing onto the YMCA employee’s hand, which is gripped around her throat, the documents said. The employee then releases the girl and resumes looking at her cellphone as she continues crying.
As the Pflugerville ISD Police Department began investigating the Feb. 21 footage, the girl’s mother reported to detectives that she would often come home with unexplained bruises and scratches, the lawsuit said.
As detectives continued to watch more video footage, they saw more alleged abuse. The lawsuit lists nine other incidents between Jan. 29 and Feb. 21, 2024. In one, video footage shows the employee grabbing a child by the back of the neck, spinning her around 180 degrees, and forcing her to the floor before stomping off, the lawsuit said. A few seconds later, the employee walks back toward the girl and berates her, causing the girl to cry hysterically and her young classmates to freeze in fear as they watch, the document said.
“The investigation that followed revealed the conduct of the YMCA employee was common at the YMCA,” the lawsuit added. “Additional video footage revealed numerous other children were subjected to the same or similar prohibited forms of punishments.”
The lawsuit also outlined citations issued by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission Child Care Licensing Division dating back to 2019 for various safety violations.
